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5th string slipping - Beginner Questions - Banjo - Banjo - ezFolk Forums
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 Posted: Mon May 5th, 2008 11:50 pm
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raisethehatchet
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I'm new to clawhammer banjo, picked up a cheap rogue open back starter. After a little while the 5th string starts slipping off the bridge. Curious what I can do to fix that.

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 Posted: Tue May 6th, 2008 01:29 am
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theBlackman
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You might just file a small nick in the bridge.

Last edited on Tue May 6th, 2008 01:30 am by theBlackman



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 Posted: Tue May 6th, 2008 07:56 pm
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raisethehatchet
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so you think I should just deepen the nick in the bridge? looks like the wood wore away a little on the side causeing it to be very slightly sloped I guess allowing it to slip easier

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 Posted: Wed May 7th, 2008 05:23 am
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theBlackman
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raisethehatchet wrote: so you think I should just deepen the nick in the bridge? looks like the wood wore away a little on the side causeing it to be very slightly sloped I guess allowing it to slip easier


Sounds like the damage is just enough to let the string "skip" out of the nock when you pluck it.  Making it a little deeper (that's a "little") should not cause you any problems.

Test it.  Use a razor blade or craft tool with a very sharp, very thin blade and just barely nick the bottom of the existing notch.  Play it a while if it still slips then deepen it a hair.  Continue until it doesn't slip.

But take care that you don't move it so far you get fret buzz.

Other than a new bridge, it's trial and error.

Good luck.

 

 



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 Posted: Wed May 7th, 2008 12:54 pm
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Philj200
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Get a new bridge. 5th strings, if anything should be fractionly higher than the other strings, especially for clawhammer. Check StewMac.com for a decent and affordable bridge.

Remember to mark the placement of the bridge before you remove it.



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 Posted: Wed May 7th, 2008 07:27 pm
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theBlackman
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Actually Phil is right.  A new bridge, or you could try using "Plastic wood" or a putty epoxy to re-build that slope and then trim to shape and re-notch if needed.  Although if you just rebuild the damaged area the original notch should be fine.



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 Posted: Thu May 8th, 2008 12:50 pm
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At $2.51 (plus s+h), is the carpentry worth it?

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Bridges,_tailpieces/Banjo_bridges/5-String_Banjo_Bridges.html

They have better bridges for not much more. You can find esoteric bridges made from retrieved sunken wood or a lot more but I don't have the ear to appreciate them.

But then again, I would buy a new bridge just to have it handy when I would attempt to fix the bridge... just to see if I could. On my cookie tin banjo, the bridge is so close to the tailpiece that it became unstable. The only way I could keep the bridge standing was to remove a section of the center foot and replace it at 90 degrees, as the attached pix shows.

Attachment: banjoreo bridge detail.jpg (Downloaded 15 times)

Last edited on Thu May 8th, 2008 01:12 pm by Philj200



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